GMH loses millions on Medicare

Nov. 19, 2012

Documents missing: The medical staff work in the emergency room of Guam Memorial Hospital in Tamuning on Jan. 17. Hospital officials have asked the federal government to increase its Medicare reimbursement rate from the current $1,000 per patient per day. However, the federal agency is asking for documents that local officials say they don't have. Rick Cruz/Pacific Daily News/rmcruz@guampdn.com

Written by

Cameron Miculka
Pacific Daily News

Guam Memorial Hospital loses about $600 a day for every Medicare patient it treats.

Medicare could pay the hospital more, but the hospital lacks the records it needs to support a higher reimbursement rate from the federal program. At the current rate, GMH cannot recoup millions of dollars in patient costs.

Those patient records, from the early 1990s, were lost -- possibly when hospital computers were broken by Typhoon Paka in late 1997. The hospital cannot reproduce them or didn't have the information to begin with. ...